Early indigenous people transform coal found in seams in foothills and mountain regions into effigies.

Most of the effigies depict bison, usually cows, with tongues out, indicating either running or being in labour. The specimens have all suffered damage from ploughing but are still remarkable and accurate anatomical reproductions of bison.Source: Royal Alberta Museum

The presence of coal in Alberta is first recorded by a European explorer.

In the February 12, 1793, entry of “Journal of a Journey over Land from Buckingham House to the Rocky Mountains in 1792 & 3 by Peter Fidler,” Fidler describes his coal discovery.Source: Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, Archives of Manitoba, E.3-2 fo.30

The first large-scale commercial mine begins production in Alberta.

The entrance to Galt Drift Mine No. 1 in 1885 near present-day Lethbridge; Sir Alexander Galt establishes the mine to exploit the region’s abundant coal deposits. Galt also establishes the North Western Coal and Navigation Company in the same year to supply coal to the Canadian Pacific Railway.Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-3188-43

Coal mining begins in the Crowsnest Pass region of Alberta.

A view of International Coal and Coke Company at Coleman in the Crowsnest Pass, ca. 1912, eleven years after production started; the region yields a high volume of industrial steam coal.Source: Image courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries, PC003325

Coal Branch mines open southwest of Edson, Alberta.

Mountain Park Station, Mountain Park, Alberta, ca. 1920-1923; small-scale mining had begun in the Coal Branch about 1909, but after 1910 the arrival of the railway opened up the region to large-scale mining. Mountain Park appears to have been the first major community to grow, reaching a population of about 330 by the early 1920s.
Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, CL26

First large commercial mine in Drumheller starts production.

Horses pull coal-filled wooden mine cars underground at Newcastle Mine in 1914, three years after Newcastle opened in Drumheller.Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A6152

Alberta’s deadliest coal mine disaster occurs at Hillcrest, Alberta.

An initial gas explosion triggers a larger coal dust explosion, killing 189 miners. The initial fatalities estimate reported in the Edmonton Capital newspaper on June 19, 1914, was later revised.Source: Image courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries, Ar00113

Cost of living rises by 65% since onset of World War I in 1914, contributing to coal industry labour unrest and heightened union activity.

Strikers from the One Big Union (OBU) at Drumheller, Alberta, in 1919; the union forms after labour workers broke away from the United Mine Workers Association union. Miners are drawn to the OBU because of the deepening economic crisis.Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-2513-1

The province is divided into thirty-two coal mining districts as the industry expands broadly.

Newcastle Mine in the Drumheller mining district after ten years of expansion, 1921; Drumheller is one of thirty-two districts created to facilitate keeping track of the booming industry’s developments, inspections and infrastructure requirements.Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A6081

The Second World War begins to revive Alberta’s economy and coal industry, which had declined during the Great Depression.

A view of the booming International Coal and Coke Company Ltd. at Coleman, ca. 1945; increased demand for steam coal during the war years led to greater production within the industry.Source: Glenbow Archives, NC-54-2930

The discovery of a major oil deposit at Leduc, Alberta, foreshadows a decline in the province’s coal production.

On February 22, 1947, an issue of The Western Examiner proclaims the discovery of the Imperial Leduc No.1 oil well as the birth of a new Alberta oil field. During the decade after the 1947 discovery, many mines close, and most coal towns decline significantly.Source: Glenbow Archives, NA-789-80

Large-scale surface mining begins in Alberta near Lake Wabamun to fuel a large thermal electric power plant.

A heavy-duty truck hauling coal at the Wabamun surface mining operation near the TransAlta Power Plant demonstrates the advanced mechanization propelling Alberta’s modernizing coal industry in the 1960s.Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, gr1989.0516.1088#1

The last mine in Edmonton’s river valley closes.

The Whitemud Creek Mine in Edmonton’s river valley in 1968; this operation is the last of Edmonton’s coal mines to close in 1970. At this time, the mine continues to rely on horses to haul coal to its opening.Source: City of Edmonton Archives, EA-20-4998

Drumheller Valley and Canmore mines close after decades in operation.

The Atlas Mine in Drumheller stops production in 1979 and officially closes in 1984. The large structure is the last wooden tipple standing in Canada. The mine is a Provincial Historic Resource, a National Historic Site of Canada and one of the region’s star attractions.Source: Courtesy of Sue Sabrowski and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

Mining near Forestburg ends after more than seventy years.

The retired Marion 360 Stripping Shovel at the Diplomat Mine site near Forestburg, Alberta; the interpretive site is a Provincial Historic Resource and Canada’s only surface coal mining museum. The kind of large-scale surface mining conducted near Forestburg requires massive equipment such as the Marion 360.Source: Diplomat Mine Interpretive Site

Wabamun coal-fired power plant is retired and demolished after almost fifty years in operation.

The Wabamun power plant in the final stages before destruction; it had begun generating electricity in 1962 by burning coal mined at large-scale surface operations near Wabamun Lake. The planned closure of the plant is featured in an Edmonton Journal article on April 2, 2010.Source: Edmonton Journal

Nordegg, A Garden Paradise

The Nordegg coal mining town inside the foothills of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains grew to be one of the finest mining towns in the province. By 1948, it boasted almost 3,000 citizens, including approximately 500-600 mine workers. Its annual coal production was approximately 300,000 tonnes (330,693 tons).

A community had already begun to emerge around the mine established under Brazeau Collieries Limited when, in early 1914, a town was founded, and German entrepreneur, Martin Nordegg, designed a model mining community.

Determined to create a community that would rise above the dreadful living conditions prevalent in some other provincial mining towns, Nordegg’s vision resulted in a town with well-built houses painted in gentle shades that blended into the picturesque landscape. His plan arranged the streets in a curved, half-wagon wheel pattern. Basic electricity was powered by a generator at the mine site before electricity was common in Alberta. Nordegg’s goal to supply every home with indoor plumbing was not well-received by the Brazeau Collieries staff, as it was not considered an essential service at the time in Alberta.

Engineers had erected a handful of early buildings by March 1914, and over the summer the town blossomed into an attractive community nestled at the foot of the mountains with over 120 buildings. As it evolved, the town eventually featured more than 250 company houses for the miners, a hotel, a company store, and one of the best hospitals in central Alberta at the time. A theatre that also served as a dance hall, a general meeting hall, a banquet hall, and a gymnasium further contributed to the social activities available to residents. By the 1930s, the Nordegg Dramatic Society performed demanding musicals that included elaborate sets and props. The Nordegg Literary and Athletic Association played a part later on in funding the necessary equipment to supply the town’s sports complex.

The industrial orientation of Nordegg was balanced by the town’s pristine mountain setting. The landscape and climate facilitated a number of recreational and sporting events that helped bind the community together. Skiing, bobsledding, and sleigh-riding became popular in winter due to the area’s hilly terrain. Early residents skated on two lakes near the base of the south mountain and at Fish Lake west of Nordegg, as well as on many other nearby creeks and lakes. Horseshoe pits and bocce ball alleys were constructed in the centre of town. Soccer and baseball became popular community sports in summer; hockey in winter. Town residents celebrated an Annual Sports Day every September 1, from 1914 into the 1940s, and the Stoney First Nations of the region joined in those celebrations.

After major oil was discovered in Alberta in 1947, the demand for railway coal declined along with the fortunes of Brazeau Collieries. In January 1955, the mine closed, and the company went

bankrupt. The garden paradise may have faded into a reduced community, but it remains a significant Alberta historical site.